From: S
To: Rebelprofiler
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:39 pm
Subject: religion and stuff
Ok, 2nd try at getting the PM to send. Apologies for the delay.
First, just to set this out there, my weekend is a little busy because I have work. Replies may be slightly sporadic.
Now, more to the point:
I suppose, to get this started on a somewhat open question, what are your personal views when it comes to religion? Any very strictly held beliefs? Anything you entirely disagree with 100%?
From: Rebelprofiler
To: S
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:09 pm
Subject: Re: religion and stuff
what a broad question. I had a great answer for you this morning but then my boss fucked with my spreadsheet after Lumburg'ing me into working on Shabbos and now I'm all frazzled.
There are a couple of things that first formulated my decision to be a religious Jew.
#1 - There is only one Gd. Gd is both male and female (not one or the other). It is impossible to know Gd entirely but it is possible to have a direct relationship with Gd. I prefer to use feminine pronouns MOSTLY because the Gd I know is a mothering spirit and our Torah teaches us that Gd's presence as felt during prayers and when communing with Gd is the female side, the shekhina.
#2 - Jesus was just a man, not a holier-than-thou being. Mohammed had some really bullshit ideas that probably did not come from Gd.
#3 - After reading the Christian Bible, I decided that very little of it was true, almost all of it was written by a man, and the men who wrote it had a vendetta. After YEARS in study with more religious Jews, I came to the assertion that Torah was true and written by Gd, and everything else was written by men. (Note: I did not even come into my Orthodox conversion believing Torah was the True written word of Gd. That came years LATER.) I came to the belief because I found Torah to be so entirely cryptic and beyond human understanding that it couldn't have been written by mortal men who had mortal logic. If it were, I'd understand it. But since I don't, it reasons to argue that it wasn't written by people who had human logic. As such, Torah needed something to help us translate and that is what Talmud is. Talmud is the educated opinion of a bunch of men trying to figure out what Torah says.
Everything else that I believe goes back to those three fundamental beliefs. Why do I keep mitzvos (commandments - in Judaism, there are 613 mitzvos)? Because I believe in Gd's commandments as outlined in Torah. I believe that mitzvos help me to become a more spiritual being the way Gd wants me to be and strengthen my relationship with Her.
Are there things I argue with? Sometimes. It's kind of a necessity of Judaism to argue what the Torah says all the freaking time. It also goes back to the Torah + Talmud argument. We don't know what Gd meant. We can pray on it and hope for divine inspiration (and I regularly commune with Gd about the meaning of Torah), we can ask someone more learned than we are, and we can read opinions posted by other people. But we'll never TRULY know.
I also draw a clear line between religious law (halacha) and civil law. Like on gay marriage. As an American citizen, I support gays having the right to marry. But I would not want to see a gay marriage performed in a synagogue using our marriage ritual because it doesn't make sense. If gays want to come up with a NEW religious ceremony, I'm all for it. But not while they want to steal the one mandated for hetero relationships. Though, that being said, I would RATHER attend the wedding of two Jewish men than that of a Jew and a non-Jew because even though neither are binding according to halacha, the gay wedding is at least keeping with the spirit of our laws. I absolutely refuse to attend interfaith weddings (unless they're not having Jewish stuff at their wedding) and I don't make this a secret. To me that is an abomination and I will not support it.
There are a lot of things about Judaism that I disagree with but none of them are Gd's commandments. They're usually man's interpretation of the commandment, the fences around the Torah. Like, in an Orthodox synagogue, women are separated from men. They use the reasoning that men are animals who will only lust and not pray when a woman is present or that women are holier to they need to be in the balcony to be closer to Gd. Whatever. The only use of the Mechitza (the divider) in Temple times was during ritual slaughter to protect the women's spirituality (which is naturally loving) from being exposed to the horror of slaughter. The rest of the time, everyone prayed together and it was fine. That divider is a recent invention. So I disagree with that. I also don't like that Orthodoxy won't let women approach the Torah to read. It's another new law created by men to try putting a fence around the Torah. My Torah doesn't need a fence. My Torah is just fine the way it is. Maybe YOU need to work more on your relationship with Gd if your Torah needs a fence because mine works just fine without one.
I also get seriously annoyed when mortal men try to take Gd's power away from Her. Like when my conversion was overturned because the rabbi was a joke. Who are you to say I wasn't a true convert? Who are you to then tell me I'm NOT Jewish and my conversion is no good because someone on my Beit Din (religious council) was a douche nozzle? Fuck that noise. So I reconverted and I reconverted at a Conservative synagogue. To SOME Jews, I am not Jewish because I have a liberal conversion. To the Jews who have inquired, it was above board and kosher so the issue is resolved and put to bed. According to Halacha, NOBODY is even allowed to ASK if I'm a convert. Once my conversion is done with, I'm the same as any born Jew, and better even because I am a convert.
This guy at my synagogue is getting uppity about conversions and talking about we should go back to Abrahamic conversions where you just say you're a Jew and start living as a Jew and you're a Jew. I disagree. Torah (and Gd) outlined who is a Jew - those born to Jewish mothers or those who live among the Jews, meet a Beit Din, and immerse in Mikveh. It's a ritual. Judaism is full of them. That is the definition of religion is a series of rituals ascribed to a higher power.
Have I fried you enough yet? LOL
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